Mozambican Civil War

==Aftermath==
[[File:Mozambique1994.png|thumb|300px|RENAMO-held areas in 1994]]

=== Transition to peace ===

In 1990, with the Cold War in its closing days, apartheid crumbling in South Africa, and support for RENAMO drying up in South Africa, the first direct talks between the FRELIMO government and RENAMO were held. FRELIMO's new draft constitution in July 1989 paved the way for a multiparty system, and a new constitution was adopted in November 1990. Mozambique was now a multiparty state, with periodic elections, and guaranteed democratic rights.

On 4 October 1992, the [[Rome General Peace Accords]], negotiated by the [[Community of Sant'Egidio]] with the support of the [[United Nations]], were signed in [[Rome]] between President Chissano and RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama, which formally took effect on 15 October 1992. A UN peacekeeping force ([[UNOMOZ]]) of 7,500 arrived in Mozambique and oversaw a two-year transition to democracy. 2,400 international observers also entered the country to supervise the elections held on 27–28 October 1994. The last UNOMOZ contingents departed in early 1995. By then out of a total population of 13-15 million at the time, the Mozambican civil war had caused about one million deaths, displaced 5.7 million internally and resulted with 1.7 million refugees.<ref name="state1"/><ref name="populstat1"/><ref name="unhcr.org">''[https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/publications/sowr/4a4c754a9/state-worlds-refugees-2000-fifty-years-humanitarian-action.html State of the World's Refugees, 2000]'' United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees</ref>

=== Landmines ===
[[HALO Trust]], a de-mining group funded by the US and UK, began operating in Mozambique in 1993, recruiting local workers to remove land mines scattered throughout the country. Four HALO workers were killed in the subsequent effort to rid Mozambique of land mines, which continued to cause as many as several hundred civilian injuries and fatalities annually for years after the war. In September 2015, the country was finally declared to be free of land mines, with the last known device intentionally detonated as part of a ceremony.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/last-known-landmine-mozambique-destroyed?CMP=share_btn_tw|title=Flash and a bang as Mozambique is declared free of landmines|date=17 September 2015|access-date=17 September 2015|work=The Guardian|first=David|last=Smith}}</ref>

===Resurgence of violence since 2013===
{{main|RENAMO insurgency (2013–2019)}}
In mid-2013, after more than twenty years of peace, the RENAMO insurgency was renewed, mainly in the central and northern regions of the country. On 5 September 2014, former president [[Armando Guebuza]] and the leader of RENAMO Afonso Dhlakama signed the Accord on Cessation of Hostilities, which brought the military hostilities to a halt and allowed both parties to concentrate on the general elections to be held in October 2014. Yet, following the general elections, a new political crisis emerged and the country appears to be once again on the brink of violent conflict. RENAMO does not recognise the validity of the election results, and demands the control of six provinces – Nampula, Niassa, Tete, Zambezia, Sofala, and Manica – where they claim to have won a majority.<ref name=":0">{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/19787524 | title=Provincial Autonomy: The Territorial Dimension of Peace in Mozambique | first=Natália | last=Bueno | publisher=Academia | access-date=20 February 2019 }}</ref>

On 20 January 2016, the Secretary General of RENAMO, Manuel Bissopo, was injured in a shootout, where his bodyguard died. However, a joint commission for the political dialogue between the President of the Republic, [[Filipe Nyusi]], and RENAMO leader, Afonso Dhlakama, was eventually set up and a working meeting was held. It was a closed-door meeting that scheduled the beginning of the previous points that would precede the meeting between the two leaders.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/28536746|title=Porquê O Conflito Armado Em Moçambique? Enquadramento Teórico, Dominância e Dinâmica de Recrutamento Nos Partidos da Oposição|last1=Cortês|first1=Emmanuel}}</ref>